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The Last Cheetah in India: Avik De

B
efore embarking upon writing this essay, first let me ask you, “Do you know that the
Cheetah, the charismatic spotted-yellow-bodied feline, the speediest runner among the
mammals, once roamed in the Indian forests as well?”
Now I guess you might be confusing them with Leopards, another spotted-yellow-bodied feline
found in Indian forests, as we generally do. The fact remains that the very last entity of Cheetah
was wiped out from the Indian subcontinent years ago. Iran is most likely the only place currently,
where some of them still survive outside of Africa (there were reports of finding one dead animal in
Pakistan recently).
Other than the taxonomical mismatches, there are quite a few differences in the outer body format
of the Cheetah and the Leopard, so that one can easily distinguish between them. Cheetahs have
more prominent spots; Leopards have more like rosettes all over their bodies. A Cheetah has a
smaller head, more rounded ears, black lines from its eyes to lips, narrower legs, a very thin waist;
unlike the other cat species, Cheetahs cannot fully retract their claws. A Leopard is more muscular,
much stronger. They can carry a spotted deer up to the branches of a tree. Yes, they can climb up a
tree; in fact, they are the number one in the cat family in this regard, and there is no evidence of a
Cheetah climbing a tree. Another very important fact is that Cheetahs can easily be tamed and
there has never been any instance of a man-eating Cheetah. Leopards, on the other hand, are
famous as man-eaters (we recall the man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag shot by Corbett).
Actually, Cheetahs’ jaws are smaller, and perfectly adaptable for a limited prey base.
Now coming to the main topic, Cheetah in India. There are hundreds of records of Cheetahs being
tamed and used to entertain the Badshahs and rich people in India with their hunting skills. Even
today we can find a locality “Cheetahwalon Ka Maholla” near Jaipur. The taming process is a
highly sophisticated one, and the Indians managed it well, no doubt about that. Moghul Emperor
Akbar once possessed 1,000 Cheetahs. The “Shikaarnama” (hunting book), commissioned by his
son, Jehangir, has detailed records and images of the-then Cheetahs in India.
You may well ask whether there is a guarantee that those cheetahs were not imported from Africa.
Well, I can say, the imports of zebras, falcons, hawks, turkeys, caracals and so forth are listed, but
there is no record of importing Cheetahs. And we do have records of having 20,000-30,000
Cheetahs in India! Given that the Cheetah is hard to breed in captivity, they must have been
available in Indian forests in abandon. Also, there is a major difference between the African and the
Asian (sometimes called Iranian or Indian) Cheetah. The tip of the tail of the African one has white,
whereas the Indian one has black color.
Like the caracals, the Indian Cheetah was subject to the same fate of diminishing in number, as a
result of random catching and keeping them in captivity by Indians. In the times of Moghuls this
tendency reached the highest level. Next came the British, and hence, the last nail to the Indian
Cheetah’s coffin! Instead of allowing the Cheetahs to use their skills to catch prey, the British found
entertainment in killing the Cheetahs brutally as a game. After India’s independence, their ways of
entertainment were soon faithfully reproduced by some foolish Indian Maharajahs.
Today, our generation is happy enough at just finding the Cheetahs in action across some narrow
grassland chasing a blackbuck in the Discovery or National Geographic channels. Most of us are
unaware of the fact that Cheetah was native to our country. In today’s world every living being
except human is in the endangered list, but the Cheetah, being neither as mighty as the tiger, the
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lion or the elephant, nor as exotic as the rhinoceros, is the most recent and prominent example of
an animal being wiped out swiftly from our country.
There has been some talk going on about the reintroduction of the Cheetah, since as early as 1952.
A few years ago, there was a plan of exchanging a pair of Cheetahs from Iran for a pair of Asiatic
Lions from India. Unfortunately, the whole process fell through owing to some political changes in
Iran, in addition to the lack of serious efforts from our side. Nowadays, scientists are even opting
for Cheetah cloning. The location of the proposed reintroduction is yet to be finalized; the
ecosystem suitable for Cheetah is yet to be checked. Many factors, including the prey base, are
involved in the successful reintroduction of any animal in an ecosystem. With all these things to be
considered, the project seems to be a never-ending one.
And most important question is about who will provide us a male-female pair. The last captive
Cheetah in Iran died long ago. Iran also does not have a healthy population of the animal now.
Even Cheetahs in Africa have started losing their field. Various conservation policies have already
been instituted there. It is a shame that we are still in the theoretical planning phase. There is a
question of balance in the ecosystem in case the African and the Asian Cheetah turn out to be
actually different species (still being researched). I still believe that with a strong political
willingness we can make it successful someday.
There is also another big question: “If a pair is reintroduced, can we provide them with the
environment, so they can thrive in the Indian narrow grasslands again, as in earlier days?” Is it
really possible, or it is just daydreaming? After all, we all know what is happening to our national
animal; is anybody aware of the reintroduction of the Tiger in famous Sariska? If you have some
time and interest, kindly check out that drama.

Armed with his old faithful companion, an Olympus C370, Avik De is

a passionate Nature lover and wildlife photographer obsessed with
big cats since childhood. In addition, he recently found a fresh
interest in an aquatic hobby, especially in aquatic plants. On the
professional front, Avik is a Research Scholar, doing his PhD studies
in Differential Geometry from University of Calcutta, and loves to
gather knowledge on the history of mathematics.

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